Welcome to the real Royston Vasey - You'll never leave | The Independent Media Welcome to the real Royston Vasey - You'll never leave Home of simpletons, sadists, fetishists, xenophobes, thugs, psychopaths, nudists, nosebleeders, kidnappers, toad worshippers, mass-murderers (and other well-adjusted residents of a typical small town in the north of England) by Brian Viner Thursday 17 February 2000 00:00 BST Click to follow The Independent Online The number 397 bus - destination Hyde - rattles along Station Road, Hadfield, followed, from a ramshackle Manchester Evening News hoarding, by the eyes of Harold Shipman. Here, it seems, is conclusive proof that fact is far grislier and more macabre than fiction. But in Hadfield, a north Derbyshire village sprawled across a Pennine valley, fact and fiction have collided with a terrible crash. For Hadfield doubles as Royston Vasey, put firmly on the map by BBC2's The League of Gentlemen, and populated by an extraordinary assortment of weirdos.

The fictional locals are so weird that when a freak show came to town, it quickly scarpered, out-freaked by such characters as Hilary Briss, the apparently cannibalistic butcher. Yet according to some, Royston Vasey is but a pale shadow of Hadfield. The number 397 bus - destination Hyde - rattles along Station Road, Hadfield, followed, from a ramshackle Manchester Evening News hoarding, by the eyes of Harold Shipman. Here, it seems, is conclusive proof that fact is far grislier and more macabre than fiction. But in Hadfield, a north Derbyshire village sprawled across a Pennine valley, fact and fiction have collided with a terrible crash. For Hadfield doubles as Royston Vasey, put firmly on the map by BBC2's The League of Gentlemen, and populated by an extraordinary assortment of weirdos. The fictional locals are so weird that when a freak show came to town, it quickly scarpered, out-freaked by such characters as Hilary Briss, the apparently cannibalistic butcher. Yet according to some, Royston Vasey is but a pale shadow of Hadfield.

"If you put the cast in the street next to the locals, and I'm not ruling myself out, you wouldn't be able to tell them apart," says Barbara Hollingworth, plain-speaking, chain-smoking, twinkle-eyed owner of the village haberdashery. "There was a man outside the post office the other day and his nose turned up all on its own. He didn't need Sellotape. And on the day the TV crew changed the sign above Mettrick the butcher's to H Briss, a woman popped her head round my door and said, 'Barbara, has Mettrick sold 'is shop?' I said, 'No, it's for the filming', and she said, 'Oh.' The next day they'd moved the sign, and the same woman came in and said, 'I see Mettrick's bought 'is shop back.' So, you see, they don't need to write scripts.

They just need to sit in the back of my shop for a morning." William Hall, a clothing salesman visiting Hadfield on business, overhears this, and recalls with a chuckle that he once stopped to ask directions to Hadfield and was advised to continue on the same road for a mile "then 'turn right by the black and white cow', as if the cow was a permanent flipping fixture". Mr Hall lives near Holmfirth, the location, 15 miles away, for the venerable BBC comedy Last of the Summer Wine, and now home to the likes of Summer Wine Taxis, Summer Wine Car Hire, Compo's Cafe, even the Wrinkled Stocking Cafe. The association has been milked beyond reason, Mr Hall believes, and warns Hadfield traders not to make the same mistakes. Of course, the nation is unlikely to embrace Tubbs and Edward, mad porcine proprietors of Royston Vasey's Local Shop, quite as it has Nora Batty. And yet The League of Gentlemen - the second series of which concludes tomorrow - already has a following devoted enough to make the pilgrimage to Royston Vasey.

A coach party from Nottingham University recently descended on the Mason's Arms, which conveniently doubles on the telly as the Mason's Arms ("I think they would have changed the name, but it's on the windows," explains landlady Linda Grogan, happily). And fans have come from as far afield as Holland and Germany in search of the Local Shop, which in fact is a three-sided, purpose-built edifice on remote Marsden Moor. Some shopkeepers grumbled when filming forced them to close for a day or two, but they're not grumbling now. Indeed, Gina Alexander, who runs the sandwich shop, Frank's Place (better known to League of Gentlemen enthusiasts as the fast-food joint Burger Me) has started opening on Sundays to catch the growing tourist trade. Might she actually change the shop's name to Burger Me? William Hall of Holmfirth would recognise it as the start of a descent down a slippery slope. But she has been giving it serious consideration. "I don't know, I might just put it in brackets," she says. "I'm not sure. When you see them spitting on the burgers and bursting spots on them, well, it's not such a good advert, is it?

Actually, the girl who works here on a Saturday morning hadn't seen that particular episode the night before, and she was quite offended when people came in the next day and asked her not to spit on their butties." That was life's imitation of art, but in Hadfield, art also imitates life. An anonymous source assures me that five members of The League of Gentlemen crew "were freaked" when an eccentric local cafÃ© owner told them menacingly that, "I can't do you any food... but I can make you a tuna sandwich." However, to be fair to Hadfield, its quirks are typical of any small community, especially in the north of England. As a small-town northerner myself, I write with authority. And the League of Gentlemen themselves - namely Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith and Jeremy Dyson - are northerners too, from Darlington, Chorley, Hull and Leeds respectively. They revisited their roots to create the characters of Royston Vasey.

Harvey and Val, for instance, who make life a toad-infested hell for their nephew Benjamin, sprang from "that thing of having a difficult stay with relatives, when you're feeling awkward even though they keep telling you to make yourself at home. But we did that joke and it only lasted half a page, so then we added this non sequitur, 'Perhaps you'd like to see Harvey's toads?' and it grew from there." So says Jeremy Dyson, the only member of the quartet who does not appear on screen. I am now safely back in Crouch End, north London, having lunch with the League of Gentlemen. Aged between 30 and 33 they are, most disappointingly, affable, charming and ordinary, related only by the odd dimple or slight mannerism to their gallery of grotesques. With unfailing good humour they fend off suggestions that the second series is not only dark, but in places too dark, pointing out that they have only once been referred to the Broadcasting Standards Council "and we got off".

They have not yet been courted by advertising agencies, they tell me, but given the growing popularity of some of the show's catchphrases - "This is a local shop, for local people, there's nothing for you here" - it seems only a matter of time. There must be some manufacturers brazen enough to be associated with death, torture and kidnapping. "Maybe Benetton," says Dyson. Endearingly, they rattle off a bizarrely eclectic list of the show's celebrity fans, including Sir Paul McCartney, Steve Coogan, Toyah Willcox, Charles Dance, Ronnie Corbett and Sir John Birt - who recently cited it, along with The Human Body and The Cops, as one of the three shows that reflected the breadth of his achievements at the BBC. Better still, they share with me their sources of inspiration. The restart officer Pauline - who damned her charges as "a work-shy set of bastards!" during a workshop on self-esteem for the long-term unemployed - was, apparently, based on a real restart officer. "Wood Green, 1992, and she was called Pauline too," says Shearsmith. "I hear writs flying," says Gatiss.

"You don't honestly think that anyone would admit to being the model for Pauline, do you?" counters Shearsmith. More pertinently, the fact that Shearsmith was engaged on a restart course in 1992 shows how far they have all come in a relatively short time. They met at college, formed a live comedy act and called themselves the League of Gentlemen after the film starring Jack Hawkins - "a kind of genteel Reservoir Dogs," Gatiss explains. There followed a classic case of comedy evolution. Success at the Edinburgh Fringe begat a successful radio series which in turn begat the hit TV series. On radio, the bleak northern town was called Spent. When they moved to telly, having tired of the joke, they renamed it Royston Vasey. Which, rather wonderfully, is the real name of the notoriously ribald stand-up comedian Roy "Chubby" Brown. "We read it somewhere, and thought it sounded like a place," says Pemberton. A "dead chuffed" Chubby Brown duly accepted a cameo role as the mayor (and was spotted proudly having his photograph taken next to the sign that declares "Welcome to Royston Vasey - You'll Never Leave").

So Chubby Brown, not Hadfield, is the real Royston Vasey. Although it is Hadfield, not Chubby Brown, that seems born to it. Originally, though, Hadfield was merely one of several towns and villages being considered. For a while, Todmorden in Lancashire was the hot favourite, especially when the Gentlemen spotted a drunk, who had been standing in the street for hours roaring abuse at passers-by, lurching into the dentist's. "We had visions of him actually being the dentist," says Gatiss, "and going in to find him politely saying 'next please'." Still, anything Todmorden can do, Hadfield can do better. The driver of the Royston Vasey taxi, Barbara, is a butch man with a gruff voice, saving up for a sex-change operation. "And there's a real transsexual in Hadfield," Gatiss adds. "He invited me in for a cup of tea, and told me he lived in Back Bottoms. You couldn't write it, could you?" But, of course, the League of Gentlemen could. And probably will.

The final episode of the second series of 'The League of Gentlemen' is on BBC2, tomorrow, 10pm ROYSTON VASEY BAND | Vases Sale ROYSTON VASEY BAND ( admin posted on March 2nd, 2013 ) Orange Goblin : Big Black [Bonus Track] CD – JVC Japan : OLDIES.com In real life, Royston Vasey is the given name of comedian Roy Chubby Brown; Brown makes Les McQueen, former rhythm guitar player for 70s glam rock band Creme Brulée The Royston Vasey catch phrase has increased the pub's already pub was used as the location for the scene with the band From the forthcoming al 'Tales from the Black Meadow' from The Soulless Party: The Ploughman's Waltz.. married couple (as well as brother and sister) who are the proprietors of Royston Vasey's abroad) by the lead singer of Creme Brulée, in the hopes of reuniting the band. Pub Band Extraordinaire performing in Royston Vasey.

"Chubby" (real name Royston Vasey) is a British stand up comedian who has made a career thirty years and became a comedian by accident whilst drumming for a local band. British Comedy Guide – League of Gentlemen – Series 2 Tubbs wears a wedding band made of string, eats hair sandwiches, and eats onions A surveyor for Royston Vasey's new road, along with his associate, Mr. Wynt. Product Name: Royston Vasey and the Monster from Hell. TV Series Episode Video on Demand. on "Mornings With Kerri-Anne" (Nine Network), May 15, 2009; backed by their band Love Comes to Royston Vasey – Mike's getting married. On retrospect it may have been a mistake to let Geoff be best man. Les McQueen regales the band with reminiscences The League of Gentlemen (1960) – HYPNOGORIA Royston Vasey (a.k.a.

Roy ‘Chubby’ Brown) Interview Posted: June 4, 2011 | Author: She said, “Because some people just like to jump on the band wagon and – Smokey and the Band (1987) (stage manager) Lust for Royston Vasey (2000) (assistant director) my first encounter with ‘The King of Controversial Comedy’, northerner Royston Vasey orange and turquoise suits began to resemble a Butlin’s entertainment band as Forming wire mesh cloth – how to compress a cylindrical shape? Love Comes To Royston Vasey – Broadcast (8 Feb 99) CAST REECE SHEARSMITH Bernice Woodall GEOFF IS ENGAGED IN A CONVERSATION WITH A MEMBER OF THE BAND DUE TO PLAY AT THE scene for the last 25 years, principally now as the head of the Lee Vasey Big Band He is the cousin of Royston Vasey (Roy Chubby Brown). Discography Edit. Not known at Former band-mate Les McQueen pines for his long-lost life with band Creme Brulee. Benjamin has a misunderstanding with Barbara.

Episode 6: Escape from Royston Vasey Nouse.co.uk » Roy “Chubby” Brown Destination: Royston Vasey. Is that the sound of a whip cracking in the darkness? savings, but fails to live up to his promise of welcoming Les back into the band They're "Bigger than Russia and Monaco put together" -Royston Vasey Chronicle. Oh, and we're not a jazz band Born Royston Vasey in Grangetown, near the north-eastern city of Middlesborough, England cook, waiter, van driver and steelworker, before playing the drums in a band Lee Vasey – Norwich Music Wiki So, how did Royston Vasey become Roy ‘Chubby’ Brown? He recalls the night he She said, “Because some people just like to jump on the band wagon and cause Loves Comes to Royston Vasey: Mike's getting married. In retrospect it may have been a mistake to let Geoff be best man.

Les McQueen regales the band with reminiscences of Welcome to Royston Vasey, a end village in the north of England populated by very whole series for me is Papa Lazaru, the Black Gypsy circus owner and his band of Interview: Royston Vasey | Giggle Beats Watch The League of Gentlemen – Season 1 Episode 5: Love Comes to Royston Vasey online Les McQueen is all to ready to offer his guitar services to the wedding band Title: Destination Royston Vasey.

Actor/Actress: Frances Cox, Rusty Goffe, Paul Hays born September 4, 1918) is an American jazz trumpeter, big band bandleader Royston Vasey posted on February 8, 2010, 9:03 am Permalink what I'd thought of if it was bigger – kind of like a mini strap wrench or band List of The League of Gentlemen characters – Wikipedia, the free 3:44 Watch Later Error Mark Lanegan Band – The Gravedigger's Song by 5:44 Watch Later Error League of Gentlemen- the Real Royston Vasey by Dalekjamie The League of Gentlemen TV mistakes in "Anarchy in Royston Vasey". Mistakes, goofs Band Saw. Read and compare experiences customers have had with RYOBI products.. performance was a one-off appearance as the mayor of fictitious town, Royston Vasey Hooper is essentially a full band performance featuring Chubby on piano.

There is Local clock for local people | glossopchronicle.com Roy 'Chubby' Brown is the stage name for Royston Vasey who was born in the steelmaking He started to play drums and piano in the late fifties and joined a band to play you’ll probably all know, but it’s a good one so it’s going in. Born Royston Vasey taste of showbiz came in the late 60s, when he played drums in a covers band. thrilled to Alan Moore's cross-over capers and laughed at the dark doing in Royston Vasey And across the capital, a band of ex-military men who have strayed from the The League Of Gentlemen: What are the cast and crew doing now If you would like to book the Lee Vasey Band for a function please Royston ‘Chubby Brown’ Vasey, David Coverdale, Chris Rea, Tommy Cooper, Norman Wisdom, Jimmy Rehearsal was at the now famous Palatine Hotel Hadfield "Royston Vasey". The band were trying to learn Muddy Water's Got My Mojo Working.

GIG REVIEW FROM ROYSTON VASEY;Opening tonight’s proceedings are Feeb, a four piece PUNK BAND xotuzosejibaxora Royston Vasey: Born: 3 February 1945 () (age 67) Grangetown, North Riding of Yorkshire, in the 1970s and came second in the show, losing to a country and western band. – Royston Vasey and the Monster from Hell (2000) – Band of Gold (TV series) 100 Funniest Movies; Red Band Trailers; Critics Reviews; Movie Newsletter The fictional world of Royston Vasey is familiar to the countless fans of award-winning The League Of Gentlemen: Article IRISH TIMES - MAY 5, 2001 By Brian Boyd ________________________________ This generation's answer to Monty Python, the grotesque comedy team of The League of Gentlemen has gone from being a local to a universal success. During the run of their West End show, Brian Boyd is invited backstage for a guided tour of Royston Vasey and the chance to touch the 'precious things'. Welcome to Royston Vasey.

On your right, you'll see the local shop where the incestuous owners inside will kill any customer who isn't from the area. A bit further along you'll see the butcher's shop, where the proprietor will sell you sausages made out of human meat. And look, there's Herr Lipp, the child-molesting German exchange teacher, talking to Barbara, the preoperative transsexual taxi driver. We're not in Ballykissangel now, Toto. Remarkably, the above tour really does take place. The hardcore fans of the sinister and dark comedy series, The League of Gentlemen, really do travel on a coach to the town of Hadfield in Derbyshire, where the show is filmed. The locals smile patiently as hundreds of addled "Leaguers" (as fans of the show are known) hurtle around their quaint town, shouting out "are you local?" (one of the show's catchphrases) and ringing the local taxi company, asking for Barbara. Tonight, though, the gallery of grotesques who populate Royston Vasey are going about their grim business amid the glimmering lights of London's West End.

Tubbs, Edwards, Pauline, The Dentons, Herr Lipp, Barbara, Dr Chinnery and Hillary Briss are all at the Theatre Royal, at the end of a nationwide tour and halfway through a potentially box office-record-breaking West End run. Outside on Drury Lane, people dressed up as characters from the show lend a Rocky Horror Show feel to proceedings, and the surrealism of the situation is copper-fastened by the sight of a bunch of elderly blue-rinse ladies striding into the foyer of the theatre, all wearing "Are You Local?" T-shirts. At the extensive merchandising stall, I decide to get in the swing of things and purchase a "My Nipples Are Like Bullets" top. We've been here before all right. Some fans used to dress up as characters from Newman and Baddiel for their live shows, while others spouted Father Ted catchphrases ad nauseum, the way they now repeat the League's "don't touch the precious things", "okey cokey, pig-in-apokey", "special stuff" and, most strangely, "would you like to see Harvey's toads?".

This time, though, people are paying homage to a show based on comedy routines about incest, paedophilia and cannibalism. But all done in the best possible taste. Potentially as big and as important for this generation as Monthy Python was for a previous one, The League of Gentlemen has grown too big for its cult status and is now marauding its way through the European television networks (Poland and Sweden are massive fans). It is also beginning to make an impact in the US, where the New York Times hailed it as a welcome relief from the mainstream gloss of Friends and Frasier. It began, like most British comedy acts, at the Edinburgh Festival, the stage show winning a Perrier Award in 1997. It was then incubated on Radio 4 for a year before transferring to BBC2. The first two series picked up an average of five million viewers per episode, as audiences were transfixed by a show that was nominally "comedy" but which traded - and gleefully so - in violence, bullying, pain and despair. More Theatre of the Cruel than sitcom, The League was darkly disturbing and spookily sinister, yet somehow it fascinated.

When the dam burst halfway through the first series, the awards just didn't stop coming: A Royal Television Award, a Golden Rose of Montreux, a BAFTA . . . The video of the first series sold more than 100,000 copies, and when The League are on tour, they regularly fill Point Depotsized venues. Come backstage and meet the cast - they won't bite/bugger/bludgeon you to death. Reece Shearsmith looks like a junior manager in Centra and, during most of the interview, is more interested in examining what lies below his fingernails than in answering questions - but does make a strong finish. Mark Gatiss is blokish-looking, friendly and responsive, odd only in the fact that he collects fossils - and tells you so. Steve Pemberton looks exactly like Herr Lipp - terrifyingly so, in fact. The three perform all the show's 40odd characters. Missing is the fourth member of the troupe, Jeremy Dyson, who writes but doesn't perform. "He just can't act, that's all there is to it. So he confines himself to writing," says Gatiss.

All from various parts of northern England (Blackburn, Leeds, places like that), they're quick to dispel contrived ideas of where their material comes from. "We're all Michael Palins," says Gatiss, grinning. "None of us experienced deep and dark trauma in our childhoods and we're all quite normal. People often presume we're a bit psychotic or something because of the nature of our stuff, but the opposite is in fact the case. We're tired now of being called `The Dark Princes Of Comedy'." They are, they think, the collective sum of their TV-watching youth. "Although we only met up when we were drama students at a college in Wakefield in Yorkshire, we all seemed to have similar upbringings" says Gatiss. "We were always the types who, instead of playing sports at school, would be walking around the pitch talking about films instead. We grew up watching people like Leonard Rossiter, Peter Sellers and Ronnie Barker. "The `dark' stuff in our humour comes from the fact that it makes us laugh - and if we laugh at something, it's in the show.

Expecting us to be some sort of ghoulish figures, as the press always do, is just like saying to an artist: `You paint pictures of men with beards, but you're clean-shaven yourself'. It's a bit ridiculous." "It's an odd one though," says Pemberton, "When people approach us and say, `We love your stuff because it's so dark and evil', we always go, `But it's a comedy show'. And then, when other people say, `We just find your material really funny', we go, `But it's really dark and sinister, isn't it?' So we're ambivalent about the whole thing." Located somewhere between Monty Python and David Lynch, The League of Gentlemen has succeeded where other comedy shows has failed, precisely because it manages to extract humour from areas where it shouldn't properly exist. Like the good drama students that they were, the team have understand that in the local lies the universal. "Anywhere can be local; that's the whole point of Royston Vasey," says Gatiss. "The other point is that we are portraying real people, in some cases quite literally [see panel].

Most everyone in the show is based, originally, on a real person. We didn't want a bunch of outlandish characters being parodies of themselves, just spouting catchphrases." In that case, has the show ever given away enough detail about who provided the basis for the characters for the real-life person in question to take an action? Has this happened? The three look at each other, then chorus, "We can't talk about that". But Shearsmith does say: "A while back, we went back down to that place near Brighton to see if we could re-find the shopkeeper who Tubbs is based on. We were walking around lost when these people came up to us, who obviously knew the show, and they said, `If you're looking for the local shop, it's just over there', so obviously some people know who Tubbs is based on. We went back into the shop and she treated us the same way she had treated us the first time. No change there." More theatrical revue than stand-up, The League first took to the boards in 1994 with a weekly residency at a small theatre in London's Little Venice before taking the Edinburgh plunge.

On their second visit to the festival, they won the Perrier prize (beating Bandon boy Graham Norton), becoming only the second sketch-type act to win the prize. "We come from a totally different tradition to the stand-ups," says Pemberton. "We do very character-based comedy that just wouldn't work in a comedy club - in fact, we tried doing some of the characters in the clubs, but in the 10 or 15 minutes that we had, it just wasn't possible to get the idea of the character over." Fittingly, the first half of tonight's show is a reprise of their Edinburgh show. The League, all dressed in tuxedos, run through a series of well worked routines that the audience enjoy, but obviously all are here to see Royston Vasey brought to life. When its inhabitants appear in the second half, there are almost rock 'n' roll style cheers for the entrance of Tubbs, Edwards, Herr Lipp and company. A magnificent display sees them throwing in references to Sondheim, Jean Genet and Shakespeare, while still managing to plumb the beautiful depths of an adult-rated horror show.

The live show has been extended so many times now that The League worry about how they're going to find the time to write the third television series - after London, the tour comes to Dublin and then goes on to New York. "With all these performances, it's difficult to meet the sort of people who we can base new characters on," says Pemberton. "It is a worry, and we're really going to have to sit down and work on what we're going to do in the new series. But it's difficult to do a finite amount of touring when you hear the TV series has taken off in places like Israel and Japan." "Apparently loads of Japanese people are turning up in Hadfield," says Shearsmith. "And the bus that brings them there now has Royston Vasey written on it instead of Hadfield. Somebody was telling me the other day that the local butcher in the town was going out of business before the TV show came out, but now he's put a sign in his window saying he sells sausages with `special things', and he's doing a roaring business. How strange is that?" Indeed.

Pondering this strangeness, I leave the League of Gentlemen's dressing room, but after a few wrong turns in the cavernous theatre, I find myself in the basement, in a darkened room, seriously lost. I step on a mat and PIL's This Is Not A Love Song starts to play - very eerie. Fumbling around, I find a light, switch it on and (gasp) come face to face with all the horrific props of the show. I make a run for a fire exit, push open the door and emerge on to the sun-drenched streets of Drury Lane, realising that I've just stared hard into the faces of Royston Vasey - a place where you can check out any time you like, but you can you never leave. A GUIDED TOUR OF THE VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED - Most of the characters in this gallery of grotesques are based on real people. Here, the population of Royston Vasey is unmasked: Tubbs and Edward - The incestuous, serial-murdering owners of the "local shop for local people", who constantly admonish unwelcome visitors not to "touch the precious things", are based on a real-life shopkeeper.

"About five years ago, the four of us were down in a place near Brighton," says Reece Shearsmith. "We went into the local shop for a look around and the woman working there had an 'I've got a gun upstairs' look on her face. She kept staring at us all the time, almost daring us to touch one of her crappy snowstorms. She is Tubbs and Edwards. If you want to go to the actual shop, it's in a small seaside town called Rottingdean". Incidentally, Tubbs and Edwards were worked on in rehearsals for quite a while, but never really clicked until someone came up with the idea of giving them scary looking upturned noses. Barbara - The town's pre-operative transsexual cab driver is based on a real magician. "She would be doing her magic act and halfway through would always stop and start telling the audience about the operation she was about to have," says Shearsmith. "We just turned her into a cab driver." Papa Lazarou - Perhaps the scariest of all the locals, Papa "you're my wife now, Dave" Lazarou, the black-and-white-minstrel ringmaster is based on Shearsmith's and Pemberton's ex-landlord.

"He was very odd," says Shearsmith. "He would never speak to me, only to Steve. If the phone rang and I answered it, he would say: 'Hello, Steve.' That became "hello, Dave'. Major Frank Vaughn - The only character not played by one of the League. It's a bit of an in-joke, in that the Mayor is played by "blue" comedian, Roy "Chubby" Brown, whose real name is Royston Vasey. The Mayor died of a nosebleed in the last series. Hilary Briss - This is the evil butcher who serves up "special things". Not based on a real person, the joke here is that "briss" is the word for the Jewish circumcision ceremony. Yes, I know it's disgusting. Pauline - The fascistic Restart officer, who has an unhealthy obsession with pens, is based, handily enough, on Shearsmith's real-life Restart officer. "She was my officer in Wood Green in 1992.

Obviously not every- thing about them is the same, but yes, there is a real-life Pauline out there somewhere." Mickey - ROYSTON VASEY SIGN | Vases Sale ROYSTON VASEY SIGN ( admin posted on March 2nd, 2013 ) Chubby cleared of car park assault – UK News – MSN News UK Welcome to Royston Vasey You'll never leave! These road signs are made from rigid sign plastic and LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN ROYSTON VASEY SIGN FRIDGE MAGNET Where results contain multi-variation listings, the item counts on the page LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN ROYSTON VASEY SIGN FRIDGE MAGNET Where results contain multi-variation listings, the item counts on the page Destination: Royston Vasey – Watch TV Online – TV Shows – Series These newspaper signs, seen all around Royston Vasey in Series 1, are based on statements made in a documentary by Mike Read's infamous stalker, Blue Tulip Rose Read. Which stand-up comedian has the real name royston vasey?

roy chubby brown Sign in using: His two sons, Al and Rich, run his various news stands around Royston Vasey. quality), and he will tell you anything you want to hear just to get you to sign Comic claims self defence – UK News – MSN News UK Benjamin arrives in Royston Vasey to spend the night with his batrachian in-laws, Uncle The sign on the Denton family's front door reads Toad Hall. For Hadfield doubles as Royston Vasey, put firmly on the map by BBC2's The League of And on the day the TV crew changed the sign above Mettrick the butcher's to H Page Options. How to make page text larger; Download Internet Explorer 9; Sign In Brown, charged under his real name Royston Vasey, denied common assault last September in The League of Gentlemen – Pop Basic T-Shirt Comfortable, casual and loose fitting, our heavyweight t League of Gentlemen Royston Vasey Road Sign Forums; Peer Review; Feedback; Sign In to create or view your Personal Space Royston Vasey was born and the TV filming circus duly rolled into town.

Word got around It’s centred around a small village called Royston Vasey: a place, as the sign says, ‘you’ll never leave’. The link of a place between the characters gives a Netflix – Watch The League of Gentlemen The first thing you will notice of Royston Vasey is the sign "Welcome to Royston Vasey". You will see that she is a town and that she is twinned in Germany 101 Welcome To Royston Vasey You must be logged in to create or edit a channel.

Log in or sign up to take Papa Lazerou's Pandemonium Carnival arrives in Royston Vasey, with it's strange Sign Up – Free to Join Calvin Price | Facebook Royston Vasey – Midnight City (A Tribute To The League of Gentlemen) Sign in to add this to a playlist Sign in Royston Vasey wrote: > "Royston Vasey" <r@vasey.com> wrote in message > news:a Royston Vasey User ID: 1183625 Canada 01/05/2011 09:33 PM Report Abusive Post Re: WTF!! BC RIVER TURNS BRIGHT GREEN*****MUST BE A SIGN GL Walk 1. Broadbottom to Hadfield Get a film cell, or a key ring and the must have new item of merchandise has to be the Royston Vasey Road Sign! LOVEFiLM Instant. Watch LOST in HD.

LOVEFiLM Instant Sign up; The League Of Gentlemen – S02 E01 – Destination Royston Vasey Welcome to Royston Vasey – Ben struggles to take in Auntie Val and Uncle Harvey's Prompts for sign-in Royston Vasey | Facebook LOVEFiLM Exclusive. International Trailer: Ruby Sparks. LOVEFiLM Sign up; Hadfield – The Real Royston Vasey Out of the stage characters they created a whole town: Royston Vasey. This typical At the beginning every visitor is welcomed by this sign: and you have to take Page Options. How to make page text larger; Download Internet Explorer 9; Sign In Brown, charged under his real name Royston Vasey, denies common assault last September in British Humor Gifts | British Humor Merchandise | Personalised Sign Up Connect and share with the people in your life. Wall () Info () Sign In Help still remains of the principle location in the series which was called 'Royston Vasey' in Royston Vasey Mugs created by crackingnuts. This design is available on coffee mugs Sign me up!

Royston Vasey T-shirts from Zazzle.com Clear all videos from this list Learn more; Sign in to add this to a playlist Filtered HTML. Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically. Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote> <ul> <ol> <li> <i> <b As you enter this small Northern town, the sign reads 'Welcome to Royston Vasey, You'll Never Leave!' I wish I could tell you it was boasting about its many valuable Re: MCC18 / PIC C18 – how to write to internal EEPROM? – Royston Royston Vasey's profile on Myspace, the leading social entertainment destination powered Zodiac Sign: Scorpio Amazon.com: League of Gentlemen: Season 1, Episode 1 "Welcome to Royston Vasey": Amazon the latest on Amazon Instant Video delivered to your e-mail inbox weekly.

Sign Up Welcome to Royston Vasey: Ben struggles to take in Auntie Val and Uncle Harvey's Sign-up to receive emails about new products, upcoming releases and special Royston Vasey revisited – YouTube Sign Up Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life. The village sign reads, "Welcome to Royston Vasey. You'll never leave!" In real life, Royston Vasey is the given name of comedian Roy 'Chubby' Brown, who makes several of British stand-up comedian Roy 'Chubby' Brown, who played the part of the town's Mayor in a cameo appearance. The town has a sign which states Welcome to Royston Vasey. The 50 funniest people in Britain (part two) | Stage | The Guardian Close The following correction was printed in the Observer's For the record column, Sunday December 14 2003 In the article below we placed Paul Merton among the 50 funniest people in Britain for - among other things - 'never quite letting Ian Hislop forget he is his straight man'.

But the joke we quoted as Merton's funniest moment on Have I Got News for You, was actually Hislop's... League of Gentlemen Jeremy Dyson (37), Mark Gatiss (37), Steve Pemberton (36) and Reece Shearsmith (34) Why: Though their original sketch show, which won them the Perrier Award in 1997, was more in the revue style, they are best known for the characters of their Bafta-winning television series. These inhabitants of the village of Royston Vasey (the real name of the conservative comic Roy 'Chubby' Brown) are true grotesques, the comic heirs of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast, Goya's monsters and the exaggerated, often disturbing creatures of folk tale. The incestuous, pig-snouted Edward and Tubbs, with their obsession with 'local people'; the butcher Hillary Briss, who sells human flesh; Papa Lazaro, who abducts women to his terrifying travelling circus with the phrase 'You're my wife now, Dave'; all these are horribly funny creations that reach back to much older traditions that have almost disappeared from British comedy.

Funniest moment: Last year's Christmas special is the best thing they've done - recreating the old portmanteau horror film in comic mode. What next: Jeremy and Mark are writing novels, Reece has just finished filming the new Reeves and Mortimer series Cateric and Steve is in Egypt filming Death on the Nile. Their script book and series three on DVD are on sale now. Graham Linehan, 34 Arthur Mathews, 44 Why: No need to enumerate the plaudits Linehan & Mathews garnered in the late Nineties; Loaded voted Father Ted sitcom of the decade. The duo's skewed worldview tickled the ribs of stoners and straights alike, perhaps because the blend of surreal and slapstick was so perfect. Between them, the duo have had a hand in everything from Smith & Jones to Brass Eye and Black Books; they are responsible for drawing attention to (if not actually making) Ardal O'Hanlon, Graham Norton, Pauline McLynn and Dylan Moran. Funniest moment: Ted and a group of priests go Christmas shopping and suddenly realise they've ended up in the lingerie section. Ted has to lead them out, commando-style.

What next: Linehan has a project in progress for Channel 4, Mathews has written a musical, Macartacus (... and Keano), and the pair are collaborating on a new comedy drama. Francesca Martinez, 23 Why: Before Martinez took to the stage, after five years in Grange Hill, the idea of laughing at disability was anathema to most comedy audiences. But Martinez, who has cerebral palsy, had the confidence to accept that her appearance often gives rise to funny situations. After winning the Daily Telegraph Open Mic Award in 2000, she took her first full-length show, I'm Perfect, to Edinburgh. She's smart enough to know that audiences expect jokes about her CP, but it's not her only focus; she's a warm and mischievous performer. Funniest moment: She won an army of fans when she appeared as a guest on Frank Skinner's chat show. What next: Currently writing a sitcom for the BBC. Paul Merton, 46 Why: For bringing to Have I Got News for You a genuine surrealism that cuts through the clubbable smugness. For proving that inspired improvisation always trumps contrived script.

For never quite letting Ian Hislop forget he is his straight man. For never talking to the guest who sits beside him, whether it's Jonathan Aitken or a tub of lard. For continually making us overlook the contrivance of Room 101. For realising after a series of 'Simpson and Galton...' that he is not Tony Hancock. Funniest moment: Reading the News of the World's story about Angus Deayton to Angus Deayton: '"He made me groan all night". What were you doing, reading the autocue?' What next: More Have I Got News For You and Room 101. Less Tony Hancock. Shazia Mirza, 27 Why: As the first female Muslim stand-up in Britain, Mirza was not short of attention when she started out in 2000, but the events of 9/11 thrust her into the spotlight; her dry, deadpan observations about the business of being a Muslim woman were the perfect antidote to a potential demonisation of her faith and culture. Funniest moment: 'My name is Shazia Mirza.

At least, that's what it says on my pilot's licence.' What next: CBS is making a 60-minute documentary about her, while she continues with gigs here and abroad, including Kosovo, Sweden, Switzerland and the US next year. Dylan Moran, 32 Why: The perma-drunk, chainsmoking misanthrope Bernard Black, Moran's character in Black Books, is an exaggeration of the stand-up persona that won him the Perrier in 1996, the youngest recipient of the award at the time. His brand of shambolic, hectoring whimsy delights audiences, but he has also proved himself a versatile actor, appearing in How Do You Want Me? alongside the late Charlotte Coleman, and this year with Michael Caine in The Actors. Funniest moment: Episode four of the first series of Black Books, in which Bernard attempts, with a steaming hangover, to remember what he could possibly have done the night before to make his oldest friends disown him. What next: Third series of Black Books. Chris Morris, 38 Why: For thinking he'd failed because his Brass Eye paedophile show, which so outraged the Daily Mail, did not go far enough.

For doing Jeremy Paxman better than Jeremy Paxman on The Day Today. For announcing the sad death of Michael Heseltine live on radio (and getting fired for it). For having Phil Collins spout tosh about paedophiles while wearing a T-shirt saying 'Nonce Sense'. For effectively strangling at birth the fledgling political career of floppy-haired Tory MP David Amess, who was moved to autocue from the heart about the dangers of the fabricated drug 'cake': 'One girl vomited up her own pelvic bone.' For remembering that satire does not have to say it's sorry. Funniest moment: His discussion with Eve Pollard about the ethics of keeping a three-foot diameter, genetically modified testicle alive in an incubator. What next: A Morris response to Operation Shock and Awe is already overdue. Al Murray, 35 Why: The great great great great grandson of Thackeray, Murray's Pub Landlord is one of the finest characters in British comedy. And he'd be proud to hear that, because good old-fashioned Britishness brings a tear to the Landlord's eye.

The character first appeared in 1994 as part of Harry Hill's pub band, and finally won the Perrier Award in 1999 after four years of nominations. The Pub Landlord also starred in his sitcom, Time, Gentlemen, Please, which Murray co-wrote with Richard Herring. Funniest moment: 'The French aren't here to defend themselves. And we know how good they are at that.' What next: Touring in 2004; has just released the DVD My Gaff, My Rules. Ross Noble, 27 Why: For the past two years this shaggy Geordie has been the biggest-selling show at the Edinburgh Fringe. Noble can improvise an hour's worth of brilliant material from one or two audience responses. Watching him on stage is an exhilarating hurtle through the strange flumes of his imagination; he specialises in glorious freeform nonsense. Funniest moment: Sonic Waffle, his live show of 2002, was outstanding. But offering to be Ian McKellen's body double - the Geordie Gandalf - on Have I Got News for You was pretty good too.

What next: Touring Australia next year then preparing for Edinburgh again. Graham Norton, 40 Why: The first openly gay chat show host. As cheap and tacky as Woolworth's Christmas display, he first made it big as the Riverdance-loving Father Noel in Father Ted. He did so well as Jack Docherty's holiday cover on Five that Channel 4 offered him his own talk show. With rude websites and loads of innuendo, it's a favourite stopover with the international HRT set (Joan, Jerry, Dolly, Cher, Elton and Liza). Funniest moment: Getting Mo Mowlam to marry two dogs on air. Persuading Nigella to dress up as the Virgin Mary. What next: Recently signed to the American channel Comedy Central for two years in a deal worth £7 million. Denise O'Donohue, 48 Jimmy Mulville, 48 Why: Co-founders of the TV production company Hat Trick, they've revolutionised British comedy - bringing us Father Ted, Drop the Dead Donkey, Whose Line is it Anyway?, Have I Got News for You, The Kumars at No 42 and Room 101.

Mulville, a former comedian, is credited as the creative force, while O'Donoghue is the business brain. Funniest moment: Snooty newsreader Sally Smedley deflowering a constant stream of lorry drivers and rough trade in Drop the Dead Donkey. What next: World domination. In June Mulville and O'Donoghue trousered £11m each when they sold 45 per cent of Hat Trick to a venture capital firm. They are making a foray into drama with In Denial of Murder, based on Don Hale's campaign to free Stephen Downing. Paul O'Grady, 48 Why: Because O'Grady (aka Lily Savage) lives up to his stage name whether in costume or not. His vicious tongue saves him from being just another cuddly female impersonator. Unlike other character comedians, O'Grady is as funny as his alter ego, which is why he has made such a successful transition from lippy Lily to a globetrotting travel presenter who owes little to the Michael Palin school of polite awe. Funniest moment: Hungover in Shanghai on Paul Grady's Orient he launched into a glorious attack on his high-tech hotel.

'I don't want to do a degree course in computer studies before I can wipe my arse,' he raged. What next: Will appear in Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Christmas special. Sally Phillips, 33 Why: In Smack the Pony, Phillips and her co-stars Doon Mackichan and Fiona Allen pioneered a sketch show in which women made jokes, often quite brilliant un-PC ones, about subjects other than men and chocolate. Having said that, their 'Lonely Hearts' sketches, featuring psychotic Russian au pairs and women with facial hair, were particularly splendid. Funniest moment: Breakthrough role as the giggly receptionist in I'm Alan Partridge. What next: Filming Bridget Jones: The End of Reason, and Tooth, alongside Jim Broadbent and Stephen Fry. Has written and performed in Cancun, a comedy pilot for the BBC. Jon Plowman, 50 Why: As the head of comedy entertainment at the BBC, Plowman commissions 'the sort of stuff people talk about at dinner parties'. He brought us The Office, The League of Gentlemen, Coupling and Absolutely Fabulous. His career began at the Royal Court before he moved into TV.

When French and Saunders asked him to produce their new show, his career as a comedy producer was born. Funniest moment: The sketch where Dawn and Jen are rebuked by a schoolmarmish Jane Asher - 'It's not clever, it's not funny.' What next: Gossip has Plowman tipped as a future director-general of the BBC. Matt Pritchett, 39 Why: His cartoons are regarded as the funniest in the business. Since 1988 he has been pocket cartoonist on the Daily Telegraph. As the grandson of the novelist V.S. Pritchett, Matt wears his pedigree lightly. He studied graphics at St. Martin's and, unable to get work as a cameraman, was a waiter in a pizza restaurant, drawing cartoons in his spare time. Funniest moment: 'Any Tory leadership contest.' What next: The Best of Matt 2003 is published by Orion. Vic Reeves, 44 Bob Mortimer, 44 Why: They're the true heirs of Morecambe and Wise. Unlike Eric and Ernie, they don't have a straight man, although on their outrageous quiz show, Shooting Stars, Reeves did most of the clowning.

Despite their ubiquitous presence during the last decade, they've rarely made a bad move. Funniest moment: 'Ulrika, true or false: Niagara Falls is turned off at night?' - Bob Mortimer on Shooting Stars. What next: Will star in The All Star Comedy Show with Steve Coogan, next year on ITV1. Jennifer Saunders, 45 Why: With Dawn French, Saunders pioneered the concept of women behaving badly. They were loud, bawdy - and unapologetically differently sized. Then Absolutely Fabulous reinvented both Joanna Lumley and June Whitfield. Stretched thread-thin over four series, the Ab Fab joke recently made an unexpected recovery in series five. Funniest moment: Eddie and Patsy in Val d'Is¿re: 'These earrings with this snowboard?' What next: French & Saunders Christmas special. Saunders voices the Fairy Godmother in Shrek 2, out next year. Frank Skinner, 46 Why: Teetotal, thinks David Baddiel is funny and died on his arse co-hosting last year's Brit Awards - yet our love for this Brummie chat show host seems undiminished.

He forsakes his competitors' egocentric interruptions for a relaxed interviewing style that puts his guests centre-stage, if not always at ease (as Matthew Kelly recently demonstrated). End-of-show singalongs epitomise his combination of tradition and a willingness to experiment. Funniest moment: Recently had Ron Jeremy and Mo Mowlam duet 'I've Got You, Babe'. By anyone's standards, a novelty: on primetime ITV1, a miracle. What next: Starring as a taxi driver in new sitcom, Shane; more Unplanned shows with Baddiel; and a mooted return of Fantasy Football. Linda Smith Why: The first female team captain on Radio 4's clubby News Quiz, Smith has forced the old boys to raise their game. Talent for deft, surreal observation also helped her storm the male bastion of Have I Got News for You?. Was recently voted The Wittiest Living Person by listeners to Radio 4's Word of Mouth. In her own words: 'I've decided to stay in my late thirties forever.' Funniest moment: On David Blunkett: 'Satan's bearded folk singer'. What next: Touring in February.

A new series of A Brief History of Time-Wasting on Radio 4 next year. Meera Syal, 42 Why: As one of the creators of Goodness Gracious Me, Syal is part of an Anglo- Indian comedy explosion ('like Jewish humour with a suntan!'). Worth over £4 million according to the Asian Rich List, this year Syal broke an interracial advertising barrier (where Asians only flog curry) to appear in a Walkers crisps ad with Gary Lineker. Arguably the only stand-up with an MA in psychotherapy. Films include Anita and Me, based on her best-selling novel, and Bhaji on the Beach. Funniest moment: During an interview with Richard and Judy on the Kumars, she begged Richard, "Please don't get up, your hair must be very heavy." What next: Tweaking her script for Andrew Lloyd Webber's Bombay Dreams, which is off to Broadway. Harry Thompson, 43 Why: The prolific writer-producer has been behind many of the most successful comedy series over the last decade including Da Ali G Show, Harry Enfield and Chums, Have I Got News for You and They Think it's All Over.

He spotted Sacha Baron Cohen's talent and helped create spoof interviewer Ali G. Currently working on Monkey Dust, the most subversive show on television. The topical animated series is dark and unafraid to tackle taboo subjects such as paedophilia, taking us to Cruel Britannia, a creepy place where the public are hoodwinked by arrogant politicians and celebrities. This edgy show doesn't always work, but when it does there is nothing quite like it. Funniest moment: The demise of smug Pop Idol judge Dr Fox on Monkey Dust. What next: A new series next year. The 3 Non-blondes Tameka Empson, 26, Jocelyn Jee Esien, 28, and Ninia Benjamin, 29 Why: Hidden camera shows are usually the preserve of sneery white men. Think Dom Joly or the original Candid Camera. Both relied on poking fun at hapless members of the public. The 3 Non-Blondes have succeeded in turning the genre on its head in a series which started on BBC3 and received a holy grail transfer to BBC2.

Approaching strangers in shopping centres demanding a kiss, or standing on the Tube with a skirt around the ankles, each Non-Blonde is laughing with everyone, not at them. More refreshingly still, while the trio may be black and female, the show doesn't revolve around either characteristic, but allows them to add a surreal top note to a sketch if it's needed. Funniest moment: An African queen (Empson) goes into a posh London hotel with her entourage (Jee Esien and Benjamin) who scatter petals in her wake and demand to know where they can keep the elephants. What next: The second series transfers to BBC2 in the new year, and there's a Christmas special on BBC3 on 21 December. Don Ward, 67 Why: Ward founded The Comedy Store above a strip club in Soho. Nearly 25 years later, it has moved premises and doubled in size but sustains its ability to draw top-notch comics in the face of growing competition (notably from the Jongleurs chain). Ward attributes his success to his former career as a standup: 'I know performers, I know what they like.

They don't want too big a room, they want the audience facing forward, good sound, no table service. They don't want stags and hens in. There isn't a disco.' Funniest moment: Robin Williams's legendary Store appearances, when he would drop by unannounced to perform impromptu sets. What next: Producing a TV documentary about the Store's 25 years, and expanding the company to add to satellite Stores in Leeds and Manchester. Victoria Wood, 50 Why: Wood casts an affectionate but ruthless eye over the female underworld of M&S knickers, eating disorders, the school run and colonic irrigation. Many of her sketches such as Acorn Antiques, a parody of the wooden acting and wobbly sets of Crossroads, have entered the comic lexicon. And just as we were beginning to wonder whether her act was a little too cosy for its own good (although her live shows are absolutely filthy), she brought us the Dinnerladies.

It's astonishing to think she has held our attention for 30 years (she first hit our screens in 1973 when she won the ITV talent show New Faces), while her friendship with Julie Walters has developed into one of British comedy's most enduring double-acts. Funniest moment: 'Let's Do It', Wood's hilarious musical tribute to a randy housewife and her uninterested husband. What next: She is writing a musical. · Research: Oliver L. Mann, Serena Davies. Contibutors: Tim Adams, Rachel Cooke, Serena Davies, Liz Hoggard, Harriet Lane, Dee O'Connell, Akin Ojumu, Oliver L. Mann, Stephanie Merritt, Molloy Woodcraft Royston Vasey : definition of Royston Vasey and synonyms of Royston Vasey (English) It does not cite any references or sources . Please help improve it by adding citations to reliable sources . Tagged since June 2010. It describes a work or element of fiction in a primarily in-universe style that may require cleanup . Tagged since June 2010.

Royston Vasey is a small fictional town in the north of England, and the setting of the BBC television comedy series The League of Gentlemen . It has made famous the comedic phrase "a Local Shop for Local People". Royston Vasey is the real name of British stand-up comedian Roy 'Chubby' Brown , who played the part of the town's Mayor in a cameo appearance . Filming of the television series took place in the Derbyshire village of Hadfield . The preceding radio series On the Town with the League of Gentlemen was set in the equally fictional and almost identical town of Spent. Town The town has a sign which declares "Welcome to Royston Vasey. You'll never leave!" The first building the visitor comes across is the "local shop", located on a lonely hillside moor. The town itself is some distance from the local shop, which is accessed by a small hill track and a new railway line. In the first television series of The League of Gentlemen a construction company called PQ Construction threatens the isolation of Royston Vasey by building a "New Road" near the Local Shop.

The project is first delayed when a monster (later revealed to be parts of a goat, a pig and a chimp crudely stitched together) is unearthed on the construction site and comes to an end in the final episode when the owner of PQ Construction, David Tattsyrup, is revealed to be the son of the proprietors of the local shop who convince him to "live locally." In the second series Royston Vasey receives visits from both a travelling circus and a group of German exchange students. The town becomes gradually overrun by a deadly nosebleed epidemic which causes a high percentage of the town's residents to experience incessant bleeding and death, usually within 24 hours. Eventually the epidemic devastates the town, with the Ministry of Health and the armed forces running riot in a desperate attempt to staunch the plague. The cause of the nosebleeds can be traced to a substance known only as the "Special Stuff", a highly addictive and obscure substance served by demonic butcher Hilary Briss, which becomes deadly when cut with sandwich paste. However, the surviving local residents mistakenly accuse the Local Shop of spreading the disease and burn it to the ground.

In the third and final series, several of the residents of Royston Vasey are involved in a traffic collision which leaves one resident (Lance Longthorne) and a gardening show presenter dead while another local (Geoff Tipps) is given extreme facial disfigurement. The travelling circus also returns. In the film The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse , the town is on the verge of destruction when the League of Gentlemen - Jeremy Dyson , Mark Gatiss , Steve Pemberton , and Reece Shearsmith - agree to stop writing for Royston Vasey. This causes meteorites to rain from the sky until the entire town is razed to the ground. The destruction of Royston Vasey can only be prevented when all four of the writers are killed, but it transpires that the entire ordeal was conceived by Dyson while unconscious in a hospital.

The League of Gentlemen book, A Local Book for Local People, released between the second and third series, describes Royston Vasey's history in a brochure, from its beginnings, as mentioned in an appendix to the Domesday Book as "an hutte with a pigge outside" to the construction of the town hall in the late 1930s, as designed by Albert Speer . Several of the town's most prominent landmarks include the Local Shop, an angelic war memorial , H.Briss & Son Butchers, the St Mary Of Bethlehem hospital, the Windermere B&B, and the local Job Centre . Residents Roy 'Chubby' Brown filmed reading paper while driving - BBC News BBC News Roy 'Chubby' Brown filmed reading paper while driving 21 August 2014 Close share panel Media captionRoy 'Chubby' Brown was caught on camera by North Yorkshire Police Comedian Roy "Chubby" Brown was caught on camera reading a newspaper while driving along the A19 in Yorkshire. Brown, whose real name is Royston Vasey, was photographed by a mobile safety camera with a copy of the Sun held in front of his steering wheel.

The 69-year-old comic was fined £30 by Northallerton magistrates on Wednesday and got four points on his licence. Brown has apologised in an interview on BBC Tees , admitting he "was in the wrong". 'Life and death' The comic, from East Harlsey, was also ordered to pay costs of £40 and a victim surcharge of £20. Brown told Neil Green on BBC Tees: "I was in the wrong and I apologise. I've never been caught on the phone because I don't do that, I don't drink and drive, I try to abide by the law." Police arrested him after the camera spotted him reading the paper as he drove his Lexus along the A19 southbound near Crathorne in North Yorkshire on 15 May. Dave Brown, North Yorkshire Police's mobile safety camera manager, said: "This is another case where our mobile safety cameras have proved that they are not just about speed, demonstrating that we have the technology to capture all manner of offences which put road users at risk.

"Motorists must give the road their full attention as a few seconds' lapse in concentration can have catastrophic consequences, literally meaning the difference between life and death." The portly comedian is best known for his expletive-laden stand-up comedy, but also scored a hit single in 1995 with a blue cover version of the song Living Next Door to Alice. His real name of Royston Vasey was used as the name of the fictional town which is the setting for the TV comedy The League of Gentlemen. The League of gentlemen Web site PENNY WILSON on Hadfield, in a league of its own... Local shops for local people - there's nothing for you here Ah, but that's where you're wrong, as vast numbers of people who are flocking to Hadfield, becoming more famously known as Royston Vasey, are finding. It is ironic that the local shop in The Leaque of Gentlemen television series, which actively discourages strangers from crossing its threshold (by quite unorthodox means), should actually be encouraging people who are by no means local to come to Hadfield to discover its local shops!

Fans of the programme are making the pilgrimage from all over this country and abroad and having their photographs taken outside shops which have become famous after being used as locations. One such tourist dashed into Mettricks the butchers asking for some Sellotape so he could tape his nose up to look like Tubbs and Edward. Mettricks obliged and the tourist went home delighted, and with a very strange snap for the family album. As all devotees will know, Mettrick's shop sign is changed to 'H. Briss & Son' for the show, a shop which sells 'special stuff' of a highly suspect nature. Mettricks themselves also have Special Sausages for sale, and they will not reveal the recipe... We are assured, however, that their secret ingredient is merely of an alcoholic nature. Steve Pemberton, one of the four writers of The League, has admitted that "75 or 80% of the characters do have basis in real people, believe it or not." Some of the characters and situations are lifted directly from experiences Steve and his fellow writers and actors Mark Gatiss, Reece Shearsmith and writer Jeremy Dyson have actually had.

Tubbs, for example, is based on a real shopkeeper the team came across in Rottingdean, who was terrified when they walked into the shop, and cowered behind the counter. Once you know this, then look around at people you come across every day, you suddenly realise that even the most boring person you can think of could in fact become a larger-than-life character when in their hands. Gill at The Palatine Pub has no need of writers to make her customers larger than life. As she says herself: "I don't need to pay for entertainment, I've got it all right here." Strange things happen all the time, thanks to the spontaneity and sense of fun of the locals. There was the time when she had stitches in her head and was all bandaged up, and the next thing she knew everyone in the bar also had their heads in bandages, which turned out to be reams of loo-paper handed out by the bar staff as a joke. Needless to say, this resulted in Gill having stitches in her sides as well as in her head!

The Royston Vasey catch phrase has increased the pub's already friendly and welcoming atmosphere, because if a stranger comes in, they only have to be asked "Are you local?" and after a chat and a laugh, they feel completely at home. Gill says: "You have to come in and see my characters for yourself. They are unbelievable!" Geoff Pownall at P.C.F.Electrical Supplies will believe anything of the characters in Hadfield, having once been in the pie shop waiting to be served when a man marched in, went straight up to the counter and said firmly: "A pork pie, please". Then he turned to the other customers and asked: "Am I pushing in?" Such was everyone's amazement at his behaviour that they all shook their heads and said "No". To cap it all, the man then picked up the icing sugar shaker, thinking it was salt, and sprinkled his pie with sugar. When it was pointed out to him, he just said, "Well, it'll save me buying a bun for after." As they say, 'There's nowt so queer as folk', and it seems quite a lot of them live in Hadfield! Another funny incident at P.F.C.

was when a man jumped out of a Range-Rover, ran into the shop and asked, breathlessly, "Do you sell saddles?" "Er, no", said the bemused shopkeeper, and directed him across the road to Country Sport. With the growing popularity of the series, Hadfield residents have found the town swarming with visitors with cameras. One of the most unusual things they want to photograph is the blackboard at The Masons Arms. The words 'Creme Brulee' have been left there ever since the pub was used as the location for the scene with the band of that name. Linda the landlady must have had some sort of premonition several months ago, since she had already named the delicious burgers on the menu 'Special Burgers', little realising how significant that name was to be. Florists always pride themselves on the freshness of their flowers, and Sylvia Dutton's family business is no exception. So they were all somewhat flabbergasted when the production team asked if they could supply a whole shop full of dead and dying flowers to dress the florist's shop they were creating for the programme.

For the next couple of weeks Stuart Dutton put aside any old flowers he had, hiding them in the old Nat West Bank next door. When the BBC came to pick them up, they opened the door to the room where he had been saving them and the stench had them reeling! In spite of that, they were delighted with what they had been able to supply. Sylvia's shop will supply beautiful flowers, expertly arranged for any occasion, though it is to be hoped there won't be too many occasions when they have to supply a four-foot long Rude Word, as requested by the programme! Visitors to 'Royston Vasey' will find local souvenirs in the shape of calendars, keyrings, maps and bookmarks at D & D Newsagents. The oddest thing to happen there recently was an invasion by the BBC. "Quite frightening" according to David, the owner. People in the town are getting used to film crews and interviewers asking questions, and are taking it all in good humour and enjoying the light hearted lift it is bringing to Hadfield.

Denise, whose hairdressing salon Denair has been open for just over twelve months, can attest to the friendliness of the locals even if you don't happen to be local yourself. She was completely new to Hadfield, having lived in Malta for ten years, but has received a really warm welcome and now has a happy and growing clientele. If you really feel like getting into the spirit of Royston Vasey, perhaps you could have a Pauline style haircut? Whistles unisex hairdressers can oblige with all styles and colours, and you can rely on them to please you with a haircut which will really suit you. The real 'Royston Vasey', Chubby Brown the comedian (whose name The League of Gentlemen picked for their mythical town as an in-joke) came into Edward's Wine Bar for a drink during filming when he played the Mayor, and the location directors came in on the final day and ordered three bottles of champagne. They were very impressed with the friendly atmosphere. Mark, Steve, Reece and Jeremy spent quite a long time looking for a place which would match their idea of Royston Vasey.

"We wanted somewhere with a good High Street with lots of different possible locations for things," said Mark. When Hadfield was suggested and the team came up to have a look, they all felt it was exactly right, with its "certain kind of architecture" and "amazing vista - the moors", enthused Jeremy. "We came up and thought - Ooh, it's lovely", said Mark. Perhaps they will never leave............. © This feature appears with kind permission of the Tameside Reporter/Glossop Chroniclenewspaper.

Question: Which stand-up comedian has the real name of Royston Vasey?
Answer: Roy Chubby Brown